June 4 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama intends to
nominate James Clapper, the under secretary of defense for
intelligence, as national intelligence director, according to an
administration official.

Clapper would replace Dennis Blair, a retired admiral who
resigned last month, said the official, who asked not to be
named because Obama’s choice hasn’t been announced.

Clapper would be the top manager of U.S. spy operations,
overseeing 16 U.S. intelligence agencies with a combined budget
of $47.5 billion. He declined to comment when reached by e-mail.

A retired Air Force lieutenant general, Clapper has been in
the Pentagon’s top intelligence job since 2007. He also has been
director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Senator Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent who is
chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said Clapper
has vast experience in the intelligence community” and “a
proven record as an administrator.”

U.S. intelligence agencies have been faulted by critics for
failing to head off attempted bombings aboard a Christmas Day
passenger flight and in Times Square on May 1. Both plots failed
because the bombs didn’t explode.

Congress created the position of national intelligence
director in a 2004 law, after the U.S. spy network failed to
thwart the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The first
director, former ambassador John Negroponte, took office in May
2005.